AN application for funding for CCTV cameras in a trouble hotspot in Thornbury has been turned down.

Thornbury Town Council had applied for the £1,369 grant from the Safer and Stronger Community Groups Initiative Fund to cover the cost of CCTV cameras that have been fitted in the Mundy Playing Fields.

The cameras were originally donated to the council by a local company for a trial period, however, the cameras' presence proved so effective in reducing incidents of anti-social behaviour the council has kept them and now has to work out how to pay for them.

The Mundy Playing Fields had become a trouble-hit area, especially during the summer months when teenagers gathered. Local residents inundated the local police with reports of vandalism, under-age drinking, swearing and urinating.

Police at Thornbury recently removed the Mundy Playing Fields as a policing priority because of the dramatic drop in incidents.

PC Neil Whyman, from Thornbury Police Station, attributed the reduction to the CCTV cameras, the onset of winter and increased police patrols.

Cllr Lesley Jones, chairman of Thornbury Town Council's playing fields and cemetery committee, said: "Obviously we are very disappointed because it has proved to be a very valuable piece of equipment over the summer and we will see what alternatives are going to be offered.

"The people in charge at South Gloucestershire Council, although they have turned down that particular application, have other ideas in mind. We will now have to look to find funding from another source."

The Safer and Stronger Community Groups Initiative Fund hands out grants totalling £20,000 twice a year to schemes raised through the district's Safer, Stronger Community Groups.

The fund received 32 applications during the last round of grants but the assessment panel, made up of council officers, refused any application to do with CCTV.

In its report the panel said: "Rather than fund a number of individual schemes, with limited input to their quality and operation, these have all been referred to the council's CCTV Officer and the Anti-Social Behaviour Team to be considered as part of the South Gloucestershire Council strategic implementation to CCTV provision across the district."